gasoline tips

monsieurnet

My dad sends me tips every so often.
These seem pretty good , he received them from a pal in California.

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline. Here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon.

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of
16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the
atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

rivabill

I wish ??????
It has just gone up to £1.03 per liter here ($8.26.6 per us gallon)

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live today as your last...you may not be here tomorrow !

Biometrix

Holy crap! $8 a gallon?

TigreST

I beg to differ: 25 years in refinery process operations replying here. (Oil Refining, petrochemical production) If you are creating a pressure drop across a valve( which you are) by throttling the fuel delivery valve you are doing exactly what you are advertising you are trying to prevent,..ie creating vaporization! Even at that you will only be effecting the light end components of the fuel blend (propanes and some butanes) which are in fact absorded/entrained in the heavier fuel components that make up your seasonally blended fuels (they are all seanonally blended) which again helps control there ability to flash at ambient temperatures for a given operating season. You are better off reducing the pressure drop across the delivery system, therfore reducing the resultant vaporization of the fuel across the fuel fill valve by running the valve wide open. As the fuel hits your tank which is open to the local atmospheric pressure (101.3kpa or 14.7psi at stp) any savings you thought you might be gaining are effectively gone. The vac system in use in Calfornia and other states are doing more good by reducing fugitive emissions then you might be doing by your throttled valve delivery attempt. Your fuel tank is also vented to atmosphere to ensure that there is a realitive constant fuel delivery presure to the carbs or the suction of your electric/mechanical fuel pump. The venting also prevents your tank going into vacuum during use. In a gravity feed system, such as the motorcycle fuel tank on a carbed bike, the excess presure of a non vented fuel tank in the sun will produce lack luster carburation (namely over flowing float bowls), until the fuel tank pressure drops due to venting or fuel level reduction. The effects may be less noticable in FI system which are pressure/demand types. These words are most likey lost on most people,...it enters the realm of octane discussions. And the average lay person knows nothing about that (octane) either. If you'd like a flame war,..just start the octane debate,..I will not be there. Once again paper theory over whelms reality.

Tony " but what do I know" Bagley

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"Stemmata quid faciunt."

monsieurnet

I do not claim to be an octane conaisseur, I just passed on some tips I received. However , can you explain what you are saying in more simple english, maybe so that a person who likes to get laid can understand?

mnet

TigreST

Seasonal blending: This may or may not be a term that you will often hear, or maybe closer to the truth, it's term that we do not often pay attention to when we do hear it. For those that live in the northern climes where the weather changes to the extreme's over the course of the year, seasonal fuel blending is paramont to the operation of your vehicles. Seasonal blending is very much related to the topic due to the fact that your fuel doesn't contain only one component that is of the advertised octane rating. Fuel is, in many a case, a blend of many refined hydrocarbon components.
The summer blend and the winter blend are not the same fuel even though you are buying 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, 93 or 94 pump octane fuel as you always have. As the season changes so will the blend that makes up your fuel, but it will always be the octane as advertised. It can also be said that if the local climatic changes are slight throughout the course of a year, so will the change in the fuel blends. You may also notice a change in gas mileage as winter hits,..it may not be just your engine warm up cycle that produce these changes.

To ensure the car starts easily in the summer when the temperatures under the hood are higher (in most places we hope) there will be less C3 (propane) in the fuel blend because the ambieant temp will support a fuel that requires more heat energy to vaporize. C3 boils at very low temperatures and will flash off if spilled even in the dead of winter in most places. The lower lightends content of the fuel will also help maintain storage-ablility and there will be less loss due to lightend vaporization and vent to atmosphere via the tanks vent system.
This ability to flash into vapor with ease is/was also a cause of carb ice and vapor lock in days of old. The light material in the fuel would flash into vapor at the higher ambient temps and vapor lock carb fuel systems and cause carb icing in carb throats and such during the heat of summer.

When a fuel changes state from a liquid to a vapor it takes energy,..heat energy. When a liquid flashes to a vapor there is both a pressure drop involved and a resultant temperature drop (as the heat energy is consumed in the process). (ever wonder why your hand cools down when you spill a solvent on it?) Temp and pressure move in the same direction. If pressure goes up so will the temperature. When pressure drops so will the temperature. Like wise in the winter when ambient temps are low, if the fuel will not vaporize readily then the motor will not start easily, flooding would be more the norm. So in a seanonally blend fuel the refiner adjusts the blend to allow for the changes in the ambient temperture that the fuel will be operating in. As winter approaches more light ends, C3 material, is blended into the mixture to aid in easy starting. C3(propane) takes less energy to vaporize. When summer time arrives the swing is back to a blend having less light material, less C3 and C4 content, because the ambient temps will support vaporiation of the heavy fuel blends. Octane will remain the same.

Your motor runs due to the ability of your fuel to vaporize. It is not the liquid fuel you burn,..it's fuel vapor that your burn. Carbs and Fuel injection systems allow the fuel to be atomized to help support the vaporization process to a greater degree. There are pressure drops in the induction system that also help this happen,..the fact that the cylinder is under a slight vacuum during the induction stroke is but one. When the atmospheric pressure drops this is very much like adding heat to the fuel to enable it to vaporize.

Like wise: When you create a pressure drop you promote the fuel to go from a liquid to a vapor state. If there is enough pressure drop across the fuel fill valve at a gas station then you will also promote the change of state from fuel liquid to fuel vapor. Thinking about a gas station fill valve now I would guess that the actual pressure drop across the valve would be rather low given the pressure the gas pumps move fuel at. After all,..they do not want the poor performer at the gas pumps spraying fuel for 50ft across the parking lot after he/she pulls the nozzel out of the tank while still holding the lever down. But still the fact remains,..at least in my mind, thottling the fill valve will do little to help you save those vapors that are escaping your tank during a re-fill,..more so given the volume of the tanks we noramlly fill, both cars and bikes. Fuel sloshing into a tank will promote vapor generation to some degree, but it's extremely low due to our normal pumping volumes. Refiners move material at much higher pumping pressures and volumes so controls to minimize the losses can be put in place via closed loop systems. You and I are still only filling a pail with a hose in effect.

Not sure if this helps or not.

Tony

__________________
"Stemmata quid faciunt."

Nutter67

I'm glad this was the Readers Digest version (or was that Petrochemical Theories for Dummies )

I did actually understand it. Not bad for a fibreglass laminator / Maintenance Fitter / Warehouse Supervisor (computers) / Forklift Driver / Operating Theatre Technician / Crowd Controller / Armed Security.

Thanks Tony.

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Paul

Never let a motorcycle take you somewhere your brain didn't get to three seconds earlier

TigreST

The actual fuel blending formula's for Sunoco fuels are a tightly kept secret. I can not give them to you,...(But I could sell you some?)

Tony "Can we talk RVP now?" Bagley

__________________
"Stemmata quid faciunt."

raymondo

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Till they pry the handlebars from my cold dead fingers! XX

CanadianBird

So, Chevron with Tectron is OK?

TigreST

Techron is reported to be a good fuel system cleaner in the off the shelf fuel additive world. It can be purchased at many of the Auto Parts dealers. Very similar to Seafoam in function. I do not know the percentage in the Chevron fuel blends. If it's working for you then it must be doing you right. We each pick our poison when it comes to fuel. Brand loyalty goes some distance to ensure your getting the same fuel by degree, but upsets in the refining world like production slowdowns and unit shutdowns due to fires and such do make the producers sometimes scramble to fill orders which are pre-sold before production. The blended fuels are bought, sold, traded between producers to help them maintain the contracted supply agreements based on octane required. I can not speak to the change in additives between one producer to another when it comes to the purchase of fuels in bulk to maintain contract demands.

Tony

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"Stemmata quid faciunt."

CanadianBird

Thank for the info, I've been using Chevron for many years in all my vehicles and Bird. When travelling in the States I choose name brand stations. Cheers